Bore Scoring.The New and growing issue!

After watching approx 10 U-tube videos on Flat Six Engineering regarding the Bore Scoring issues most of these cars will have at some point in there life REGARDLESS of mileage ,even the 9A1 direct engines are seeing . Apparently based on Jake Rabys findings so far the early Boxster engines up to 2006 with cast pistons and possibly different piston /cylinder wall coatings/coolent passage changes ect are not having the issues. Hard to say if one or a combination of changes (larger engine size, thinner case walls, forged pistons instead of cast, smaller coolant channels,gasket changes ect ect but the the writings on the wall. This is turning out to be a much bigger issue than the IMS problem. The 3.2 and smaller engines from 2006 back are not seeing this Bore Scoring problem at lease in his findings.That not to say that it cannot happen, he just may not have come across it yet. But its safe to say that these model year and engine size being 14 years or older that it would surely have been apparent by now. I now have 143000 kilometres on my 2006 Boxster S with the 3.2. It is exhibiting some signs with a small oil leak from an exhaust manifold gasket (possible oil pooling in cylinder) and engine ticking that wasn't previously there but no crazy oil useage as of yet.It could potentially be the starting signs and I will be doing a borescope myself with Jake Rabys 4th video as a guide. It dosent look to be to difficult. If I find nothing going thru the spark plugs I will pull the oil sump and go thru that way to see from the bottom side of cylinder. Stay tuned. Worth noting I have been using Motul 5/40 oil (change every 8000 kilometers) dont over rev 4000 rpm till temp at 180 degrees. I do have a Softronic down load but other wise completely stock.I have owned car for 8 years, purchased at approx 62000 kilometres . No winter use and no track use but I drive it the the way Mother Nature intended. Stay tuned!

I think you're unnecessarily worrying yourself by watching the videos. Stop watching the videos. Do you hear any particular noise? A noise that leads you to believe you have bore scoring in the engine? The engine ticking is about 100% attributable to the exhaust manifold gasket. Get that fixed then forgeddaboutit and just drive the thing. Remember Jake Raby is selling his services. ANY engine will eventually wear out, but a well-maintained one will take an awfully long time to do that. His videos are worst-case videos. And what's with the only summer use? It's a friggin' car. It's made to be driven, not preserved. It's close to worthless now given the year and the miles on it - so you might as well enjoy it and drive it. If it ever blows up - buy a newer one, you've gotten your use out of this one.

I live in Central Ontario Canada,we have 3 feet of snow ,salt and gravel everywhere ,if I drove this convertible car it would be trashed in 1 winter ! How do u figure a exhaust manifold gasket failure could cause a tick in engine? But based on your advise I may swell trash it eh?

The sound from an exhaust manifold gasket leak can sound just like a "tick" . Look for the simple answer before diving into the expensive and obscure. And no I didn't say you should trash it - you should use it. If you have 3' of snow all winter I'd be looking for a snowmobile as a toy - not a Boxster . BTSW - somewhere I saw a statement attributed to Jake Rabe that so far he's seen no bore scoring in the 2.9 987.2 engines. Maybe that's changed, but I sort of doubt it - it would be all over the web if he had.

K thx for advise. Flat Six video episode 9 or 10 , 997.2 bore failure 2010 I think he stated.Its all there in colour. I have 2 sleds Lol!

You could change the exhaust gaskets. That should help with the ticking noise. One additional mention from Jake's video's is that Canada's usage/percentage of bore scoring is high. That means changing motor oil every 6 months. I would use Mobil 1 FS brand 0W40 from Amazon (not expensive). The FS brand is one that was specifically used in a comparison with over 200 motor oils in a blog called 540/RAT. Mobil 1 FS 0W-40 oil was in the top 10 of all oils including many expensive race oils like Joe Gibbs DT40, Motul , and many others. From the same video's you watched, my takeaway is the northern latitudes are more impacted by the big bore pistons than the southern US states. Once you park your car for the winter, add the trickle charger and leave it alone unless you drive it for a good amount of time at each start up. I'm in Seattle where we get a lot of cold damp moisture, so I also my interested in Jake's outcomes. I do not want to be one of his customers.

Thx Apex,got the gasket on order, we will see. I dont start the car at all in winter, never have.I change the oil after the summer/fall before storing usually with between 4000 and 8000 kilometres with the Motul 8100 excess 5/40 (used this oil for last 6 years) I will look into the Mobile 1 FS oil. I want to try the Job Gibbs DT40. I read that someone tried that and the engine stopped ticking rite away but that could have been a fluke. Im not sold on oil as a remedy for something mechanically wrong. Yes I saw that info in the videos regarding the Canadian cars with bigger motors/pistons having more pronounced symptoms . Worth noting I have a friend with a 2006 911 S with the 3.8 litre and he now has 188000 kilometres and no issues with ticking, burning lots of oil ,carbon tail pipes or IMS for that matter. He lives few miles from me (Canadian car) and purchased the car New.Neither one of us drive cars in winters just cant here with the weather. He uses the Motul 8100 5/40 excess (thats why I use it also) FYI.

Warren-Your friend's 3.8L is a different motor, most likely cylinder walls coated with different material and a different block that aligns the pistons to the bores correctly as compared to the M97 engine . Also the pistons in the 3.8 maybe cast like the old Boxsters were. The reason I suggested Mobil 1 FS version is the cost of changing the oil every 6 months just for the oil/filter alone per Jake's recommendations. I am using Motul 300v Power as suggested by Bill on P9 ($35.35/2 L- Amazon ) for my summer/track use and Mobil 1 FS 0W-40 for the winter in Seattle. Bill drove his Cayman 987.1 S hard at the track for 80 track days before moving to a GT4 without any rod bearing scarring from oil starvation or bore scoring.

So Warren - what was the story? What did you find. It's 3 months since we've heard from you...

Update: Sorry always like to hear feedback myself on what happened with others so what I have found so far. I changed out the leaking header gasket, found some Tary hardened glue in the air channels in the head on the leaking side when header pulled, not sure e whats thats all about, was expecting some carbon not hard tar. I also pulled all the plugs and they all looked good except 1 plug on bank#1 had some oil on the spark plug threads and I found that coil was bad(cracked) others looked ok. I changed the coil cleaned all the plugs and reinstalled.Everything sounds better now on start upon knock at least thats audible to me. Have approx 2500 Kilometres since oil change with very liliil usage, rear muff have only slight carbon in that time frame. I have not scoped the cylinders yet.Was waiting to see results of what I found. Imgoing to run it for the rest of the summer and see how it goes. Honestly im kinda freaked about doing the scope and finding an issue !

Sorry worth noting was the header gasket was leaking because the header pipe had a slight warp . I just used a big file and took it down slightly until flat and strait, cleaned up head mating surface well and new gasket torqued to spec and 2500 kilometres and no leaks , also no nasty sounds !!

Before you freak out - have Brookstone (or whoever does oil testing in Canada?) test an oil sample. If you have bore-scoring that will turn it right up.

Have a sample bottle on the way from Blackstone. Brookstone better?

Blackstone is who I meant.. my fingers obviously were out of control...